Minimalist Hotels in Europe

A few days ago, I posted an item about the ultra-modern Jeronimos 8 Hotel where I recently stayed in Lisbon. Everything in this hotel is pared-down, clean-lined and hyper-modern, even the bathrooms (right). It is part of a trend in European cities, where such hotels and restaurants are 21st-century islands of design and technology surrounded by the weight of centuries and the opulence of traditional architecture.

The Jeronimos 8 belongs to a consortium of 150 hip hotels called Design Hotels that are a reaction to the formal hotels that we associate with Europe. Spare, clean lines, sculptural furnishings, interesting and/or vibrant colors and such technological features as high-speed Internet access in each room, flat-screen televisions and bathroom faucets that sometimes require an engineering degree to operate are the hallmarks of this trendy breed of hotels. All of the Design Hotels are hi-tech wonders, but there are other such hotels that don't belong to the group.

The first such hotel I encountered was the Le Meridien in Vienna, where I stayed in 2005. Little did I know then that I would be staying in properties with similar design philosophies in two distant countries two years later. Le Meridien is an edgy but stylish haute-21st-century hotel is contained within the shells of adjacent 19th-century buildings. It displays specially commissioned art and sophisticated minimalist furnishings. All 261 rooms and 33 suites have 42-inch plasma TV, free-standing tower shower and several computer ports. The theme is Art + Tech. Opernring 13, 1010 Vienna. Phone: 1-800-543-4300 (reservations, U.S.), +43 (0) 1-588-90-0 (local).

In Madrid, I stayed at the recently opened Hotel Óscar, which belongs to the Room Mate group. There are currently eight Room Mate hotels in Spain (four in Madrid, three in Granada, two in Málaga and one in Valencia). Each bears a different first name, the implication being that he or she is your roommate when you stay there.

All Room Mate Hotels are also different in design. Óscar is a tall, slim 75-room hotel with a spectacular location on a small plaza two short blocks from the Gran Via and a short walk from the metro and to all sorts of other places you might want to be. To reach my room, I walked down a dimly lit, darkly painted and carpeted corridor where lights snapped on when a room door or elevator door opened. My room was green and white, quite a contrast to the dark purple corridor. Some of the furniture was built in. One decorative wow was a floor lamp that looked like a Brobdingnagian table lamp (right), so tall that it almost reached the ceiling. Room Mate Óscar Plaza Vázquez de Mella 12, 28004; +34 (0) 91 701 11 73.

I can't say that any of these hotels give me the warm fuzzies, but I admire the creativity that went into the design. I do love having free WiFi. And I also love the tubs and showers once I figure out how to use them.